Holy Paladin

Overview

Talents and builds

Level 60 and raid build

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Key talents

• Light's Vigil1/1Applies Light's Vigil to a friendly target for 30 sec. The caster's next Holy Shock on the target incurs no cooldown and heals the target and their party for 326 to 344. Only one Vigil per Paladin may be active in each party
• Holy Power5/5Increases the critical strike healing bonus of your Holy spells by 50%
• Boundless Light2/2Increases the critical strike chance of your Holy Shock spell by 30% when cast on allies not affected by your Oath of Light
• Holy Shock1/1Blasts the target with Holy energy, causing 129 to 139 Holy damage to an enemy, or 110 to 118 healing to an ally
• Infusion of Light2/2Your Holy Shock and Flash of Light critical hits reduce the cast time of your next Holy Light cast within 15 sec by 1.0 sec
• Divine Precision1/2Improves your chance to hit with Holy spells by 4%, and reduces the duration of Silence effects on you by 10%

The build is 31 points in Holy, 12 in Protection and 8 in Retribution. Chosen by simming candidate builds on the same gear against the same fight. Every figure behind this ranking comes from one stated incoming-damage profile (the scaled Phase 1 tank hits and raid pulses described on the BiS page): it ranks gear and builds for this spec, and says nothing about which healer class is stronger.

• Spiritual Focus opens the tree and protects your casts from damage pushback; Reverence keeps part of your regeneration running while you cast.
• Healing Light strengthens Holy Light, Flash of Light and Holy Shock.
• Illumination returns mana on a critical heal, Infusion of Light makes the next Holy Light faster after a Flash of Light or Holy Shock crit, and Divine Favor guarantees a critical heal on demand.
• Holy Shock is the instant heal, and Boundless Light makes it crit far more often on anyone you have not sworn Oath of Light to.
• Holy Power now makes your heals’ critical strikes heal for more, rather than crit more often; Light’s Vigil is the capstone.
• Divine Intellect moved to Protection’s first row and still lifts your mana pool.
• In Retribution, Benediction makes Holy Shock and your other instants cheaper, and Conviction now adds critical strike to every spell, heals included, which feeds Illumination and Holy Power. Taking those eight points instead of twenty in Protection measured about +5% healing in our simulator.

Oath of Light is taken, but the client does not yet say how much it adds, so the simulator counts it as nothing. Open the planner at /planner?class=paladin to adjust it.

Rotation and priority

The curated rotation opens with Greater Blessing of Light before the pull and then leans on Flash of Light as the staple: it is the most efficient heal per mana for both the tank and the party. Divine Favor into Holy Light answers a tank who is nearly dead. Holy Shock and a second Holy Light line only fire while your mana is keeping up with the share of the fight that is left; a healer who is short on mana, which is the usual case, heals as a Flash of Light healer.

Light’s Vigil is taken because it is the capstone point, but it is left out of the rotation: its party heal costs about as much mana as ten Flash of Lights, and against the profile’s small raid pulses most of it would go to waste. The rotation does not downrank.

Stat priority

1. 1MP5
2. 2Intellect
3. 3Healing power
4. 4Critical strike
5. 5Spirit

In simulator-derived order, per point of stat: MP5 first, then Intellect, with healing power and Spirit close together behind and critical strike after them. Intellect feeds both your pool and Illumination’s mana return. Items trade several points of one for few of another, so read the list as “which stat is cheap to give up”.

Spell power adds nothing to a heal. Every figure behind this ranking comes from one stated incoming-damage profile (the scaled Phase 1 tank hits and raid pulses described on the BiS page): it ranks gear and builds for this spec, and says nothing about which healer class is stronger.

Best in slot

Enchants and consumables

Races

• Human (Recommended)
• Dwarf
• Undead (Recommended)

Human is the Alliance pick: Perception and The Human Spirit. Undead is the Horde pick: Will of the Forsaken.

Professions

Alchemy pairs naturally with Holy’s reliance on mana consumables, since it lets a healer supply their own mana potions and elixirs rather than buying them out. Enchanting or Tailoring both give access to caster-stat enchants and crafted cloth or leather pieces that carry healing power directly.

Leveling

Outlined: points added in this level range.

Retribution is the stronger leveling spec for Paladin — it kills things faster solo, where Holy’s strengths barely apply outside a group. If leveling Holy anyway, expect a slower solo pace than Retribution offers.